Unlucky For Some: The 13 most underrated songs from 1989
To say that 1989 was a musical turning point is like saying the car had an impact on the tire industry. It seems that as a new decade approached, the whole world was subsumed in a swathe of change, and culture simply followed suit. The guard was changing in every regard and music was there to reflect this transition.
The year is termed in history as the ‘Revolution of 1989’ as the Eastern Bloc rose up. Starting in Poland and Hungary, the foundations of the Berlin Wall were rocked to near breaking point. The Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia overthrew communist rule and set a succession of identity-defining phenomenons in process. All the while, the rest of the world looked on and took stock of their own position.
Seemingly, this wind of change swept over music too. In a similar fashion to politics, the stranglehold that new technology had on the sound of the ‘80s suddenly waned towards a more human approach. Lyrics were back and distorted guitars rebelled against the slick world of synths. Nirvana got busy unleashing Bleach, the Pixies brought us a masterpiece with Doolittle, and Tom Petty hit his stride with Full Moon Fever.
Meanwhile, Madonna continued to uphold the MTV uprising with Like a Prayer and the old guard with Roy Orbison and Bob Dylan also seemed to return to form by venturing back to their timeless origins. Furthermore, experimentation was hitting the headlines with Nine Inch Nails, and the Beastie Boys blended punk and rap, while The Stone Roses heralded the Britpop dawn.
In essence, so much was going on that even a Chinese virologist in 2020 would’ve considered the period a culturally busy one. With so much kicking off, a string of gems went unnoticed or underappreciated. With our unlucky for some feature, we set out to right that wrong by bringing you a playlist of the finest songs that the spotlight either missed or never lingered on long enough. These are the 13 most underrated songs of 1989. Enjoy…
The 13 most underrated songs from 1989:
‘Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis)’ – Cowboy Junkies
Elvis Presley’s pervading presence in pop culture has been somewhat of an oddity throughout the ages. He has always been a legend and rightfully regarded as a pivotal figure, but there are certain moments when his music almost seems amiss. During the 1980s this reality really came to the fore as his rockabilly ways seemed bygone when the sultry era of the mainstream far surpassed hip-snaking.
This contextuality really elevates the Cowboy Junkies’ reimagining of one of his classics. They darkly subvert the track to make it seem like a haunted relic from the past. The song still hinges on that timeless melody, but the Canadian band ditch everything else to deliver a truly original version that allures with the come hither of an abandoned building.
‘Eardrum Buzz’ – Wire
Wire are an oddity in modern times. They’re a band who make music for the love of it, that much should be clear from the 17 studio albums they have dropped alongside 11 EPs. Their Mute records effort, It’s Beginning to and Back Again, saw them swerve in a new direction once more, offering up a smorgasbord of tunes.
The anthem ‘Eardrum Buzz’ is a new wave adjacent ditty that saw them tweak the stylings of the era with an experimental edge. The result was a loud and brash piece of music with a pumping chorus. Throughout the many cultural swings of music, Wire have always remained one of the most interesting bands around. This was one of the certified goodies that they have offered up.
‘The End of a Perfect Day’ – Kirsty MacColl & Johnny Marr
Kirsty MacColl’s pop career is mostly entwined with her collaborations. However, that is purely a sign of her own assured artistry. She understood her skill and was more than happy to pair her own preserving individualism with the sound of another who could elevate her tune. For ‘The End of a Perfect Day’ she recruited the tremolo king and melody maker Johnny Marr to add some swirling depth to her visceral ditty.
Taken from her album Kite, MacColl found herself in fine songwriting form. On the record, she wavered through genres, attacked the politics of Margaret Thatcher, questioned shallow pop stars, and mixed cowboy styles with a contemporary context in a postmodernist way. The result is a reflective record that is given license to roam—this track embodies that and never falls below the eye level of interest as a result.
‘Fender Stratocaster’ – Jonathan Richman
Richman didn’t like the punk label that befell him and the Modern Lovers in the 1970s. He said his music was simply about expression—having something to say and getting it out there. That’s about as honest and accurate a self-appraisal as you’ll come across in music. And it soars like a sunray assegai through a cloudy sky on ‘Fender Stratocaster’.
It might sound jagged and half-baked but that’s the beauty of it when it comes to Richman rattling off the ways of rock ‘n’ roll guitar. It’s as expressionist as an Edvard Munch painting. He races into the sun with nostalgic glee, like rounding the corner to the street he grew up on straddling a vintage bicycle. With tail-light imagery and throwbacks to the timeless past, this unpolished gem packs a punch way beyond its string bean weight.
‘Madonna of the Wasps’ – Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians
Robyn Hitchcock once said: “In this world of doubt, one thing is certain for me; that I will go on writing songs up to and – I hope, through heavenly means or diabolical – beyond the day I die.” With that sort of intent, Hitchcock will know too well the limited control you truly have over them.
As Leonard Cohen explained: “I thank that Bob Dylan knows this more than all of us: you don’t write the songs anyhow. So, if you’re lucky, you can keep the vehicle healthy and responsive over the years. If you’re lucky your own intentions have very little to do with things.” It would seem that Hitchcock gave his engine the white-glove treatment in the 1980s because, by the end of it, he received a tune that seemed to encapsulate the era. It’s a perfect piece of pop revelling in the aura of a lassoed time and place.
‘Kennedy’ – The Wedding Present
The Wedding Present joyously upended the increasing commercialism of the ‘80s mainstream. As David Gedge recently told us regarding their latest 24 Songs project: “I wouldn’t say it’s a return, as such, because I don’t think we ever stopped being a punk cottage industry. Even when we were signed to major record labels like RCA and Island Records, we still tended to run everything ourselves. We’ve never had tour managers or used merchandise companies, or anything like that. We also run our own record label.”
That sense of being in music for the love of it really soared on their album Bizarro. Anthems like ‘Kennedy’ retained the energy of punk without sounding like a pastiche. The track oozes vitality and immediacy. It rattles away like a wasp trapped in a cider can and remains an adrenalising buzz to listen to even now.
‘Come Anytime’ – Hoodoo Gurus
The Hoodoo Gurus formed in Sydney, Australia in 1981. Eight years into their output, they had established a global footing. That sense of self-confidence at this stage shines through on the post-rock classic ‘Come Anytime’. In an era where technology was coaxing conformity, the band were evidently happy to be themselves and offer up some refreshing quirkiness on a solid pop riff.
As they sing in punchy tones, “Nothing’s new beneath the sun, we’ve butchered every sacred cow,” and with that in mind, there is a joyous sense of humility to the song. Its mild aspirations give it a real humanised feel. The grand love songs have been written, it seems to say, 1989 was the time for someone to simply ask, “What is it you want from me?”
‘Anyway’ – The Lemonheads
The Lemonheads are one of the most underrated bands of the era. The issue for them was that a lot of similar bands were spun out from their influence, and they get clobbered together. However, Evan Dando’s songwriting has always stood out like the Purple One in the Quality Street. With sincerity and assertive originality, he offered up refreshing honesty and rolling riffs.
This gem from Lick is a fine example of that. With the punk aura of a hangover infecting the musicology, it is ragged and tousled-haired, but it still has its wits about it somewhere. The whole thing comes together like a fresh splash of water upon a weary face. It’s somehow mellow yet manic at the same time, subverting a simple melody with an assortment of edgy flourishes.
‘Where Do We Go from Heaven’ – The Mighty Lemon Drops
The short-lived indie band from England’s Black Country, The Mighty Lemon Drops, might not be a household name these days, but they certainly helped to establish the psychedelia inflexion of the forthcoming era. While Echo and the Bunnymen might have drawn most of the plaudits on this front, this sweet band offered superb depth to the jangly new sound.
The swirling instrumentation of this track flows like a stream of musical consciousness. It’s a kaleidoscopic world where the questioning entreaty of ’Where Do We Go from Heaven?’ rings out continually. The result is something that can prove genuinely exultant in the right light as repetition taps into the entrancing charm of slipping into a daydream.
‘Pictures of Matchstick Men’ – Camper Van Beethoven
Camper Van Beethoven are a bit like Roxy Music; you listen to a lot of their work and think, ‘this is a ‘90s gem only to check the facts and find that it was released in 1985’. In their own humble way, they were proto-everything-to-come. This rousing cover has elements of everything that came before it too, and it casually heralds the new era ahead.
Far from polished, this rugged tune has the energy of a live recording. It’s carefree and swaggering with a subtle air of intellect, much like the band itself. They often filled their work with Thomas Pynchon quotes and such like, and somehow this effort hints at a literary depth. It’s not as straightforward as a gung-ho punk reappraisal of a timeless melody, there’s more of a postmodernist feel to it than that.
‘I’ll Be You’ – The Replacements
The Replacements were one of the premiere bands of the era. “We formed as a rock ‘n’ roll band,” Paul Westerberg once said, “and that was the path we chose to take. Whenever we deviated from it, we felt – unless everybody was into it – there was tension.” That old garage band feel really made them a cracking sense of contrast amid the synth saturation.
‘I’ll Be You’ is a mark of their swagger. They sauntered around on the melodic backbone and offered up something truly singular but with timeless traditions holding it all together. The track sees trademark grovelling vocals and duelling guitars shine through. This might not hit the heights of some of their best-known hits, but it certainly typifies their stellar work.
‘Pure’ – The Lightning Seeds
With their debut single ‘Pure’, The Lightning Seeds set a near-perfect precedence. Everything here is crafted with a seamlessness rarely seen outside of Japanese carpentry. Some camps say that melodics can be deduced down to simple maths, whereas others claim that you have to conjure songs from the ether. Both seem to be on display here as the band reach exultancy with a sense of scientific craft.
There is a singalong chorus and a slew of catchy instrumentation that might have seen the song herald the platitudes of Britpop to come, but it stands aside not only as a progenitor but also as an edifice of catchy poetry with cracking refrains like, “I wish you never learned to weep,” ringing around the looping flow of upbeat notes.
‘Rooms on Fire’ – Stevie Nicks
Underrated and Stevie Nicks form a similar dichotomy to the thought of a loquacious Native American in a stereotypical Hollywood movie—she’s been rightly praised so often that it seems like everything she has done has been lauded. However, out of her gilded back catalogue, ‘Rooms on Fire’, is one of the best and it rarely seems regarded as such.
The song is so buoyantly jubilant that it could even get Jabba the Hutt up on his feet for a twist. It is filled with a sense of Byronic romanticism and a mood so well established that you could suffix it with an ‘esque’. Few forces in music have the ability to harness the amount of energy that Nicks can summon with a snap of the fingers—and this purring gem of shimmering female prowess deserves all the praise in the world.
